Brass · Valved
Horn in F
A long, coiled conical brass tube ending in a wide bell. Its warm, round sound blends with both woodwinds and brass, so it often holds the orchestra together.
- Family
- Brass · Valved
- Classification
- Aerophone · lip-vibrated
- Transposition
- In F, written a perfect 5th higher
- Clefs
- Treble; bass for low notes
- Sounding range
- B1 – F5
Parts of the horn
A double horn in F and B♭. Photo: Yamaha Corporation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
Written F♯2 to C6. Low horn players reach a few pedal notes further down. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the horn
- Written a perfect fifth higher than it sounds. In bass clef, older scores write the notes an octave too low (“old notation”), so state which convention you use.
- Horn players specialise: 1st and 3rd play high, 2nd and 4th play low. Write the parts that way.
- Exposed high entries are risky. Give players time to set the note, especially after a rest.
- Stopped notes (the hand closes the bell) sound buzzy and distant; mark them +.
- Fast tonguing is possible, but the horn speaks slightly later than the trumpet.
History
Natural horns had no valves and could play only the notes of the harmonic series; players changed key with crooks and filled in notes by hand-stopping. Valves were invented around 1814–1818 by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel. The double horn in F and B♭, standard today, was developed in Germany around 1900.
Listen
Key works featuring the horn. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
- Mozart – Horn Concerto No. 4 in E♭, K. 495
- R. Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel (horn call)
- Brahms – Horn Trio, Op. 40
- Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5, 2nd movement (horn solo)